A New Scientific Discovery About J.W.'s

by Mindchild 33 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mindchild

  Hi all of you wild and funky people,

  By way of introduction, some two decades ago, I left the Jehovah’s Witness ideology at considerable personal costs, from there went forward to get a quality college education and I’m now a research scientist at an American university. A few months ago I, along with a team of international scientists, published a scientific paper that addressed a neural-behavioral discovery I had made many years ago that involved Jehovah’s Witnesses. The paper was published by Dr. Kuniaki Otsuka, and is part of a series on Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, published by Elsevier in Holland

  Using a large epidemiological study that utilized The Watchtower’s own statistical reports for a 50-year period and from 108 nations, my colleagues and myself demonstrated a viable relationship with the motivational behaviors of Jehovah’s Witnesses and geomagnetic location along with cyclic time variations. Essentially, the study mathematically shows that the amount of time spent in field ministry activity for all classes of Jehovah’s Witnesses (from publisher to Special Pioneer) is strongly influenced by both the location where someone lives as well as regular 10.5 or double cycles of 21 years, in their activity. The cycles are driven by solar activity (an 11.2 year cycle), which modulates the Earth’s Magnetosphere and produces a radiation known in geophysical circles as geomagnetic pulsations. The geomagnetic pulsations appear to stimulate the human cerebral cortex by a mechanism known as LTP (long-term potentiation) giving rise to motivational behavior.

  The reason for the geographical effect is that geomagnetic pulsations are not distributed evenly over the planet. For instance, there is much more of this radiation reaching the Earth’s surface at the geomagnetic equator, and places like Japan, and Korea say than Canada or the USA. Our study showed as much as a 300% difference in motivational levels in time spent by publishers engaged in preaching activity.

  This human motivational effect is not limited to Jehovah’s Witnesses per say. One of the Russian researchers on our team demonstrated similar religious motivational relationships with six other religious organizations, a paper of which will be forthcoming in time.

  The implications of this research have the following value. The geomagnetic pulsation cycle, which we believe to be responsible for the gross neurological stimulation, roughly follows the sunspot cycle. We are now near a time of peak sunspot activity, but in only a few years, the peak period of geomagnetic pulsations will follow. Jehovah’s Witnesses may enjoy a yearly gain in both productivity and membership when this happens. Smaller increases in publisher motivation will occur this year to roughly 2005 and then there will be significant decreases in both the JW publisher output and the growth rate.

  The broader implications of the findings are that the success enjoyed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is not of any supernatural origin. The motivational effects provided by geomagnetic influences are completely natural and predictable in a gross way.

  I offer the summarized findings of this research here as I do not have the time nor desire to wage a personal war against the Jehovah’s Witnesses or any other religion. My objectives as a scientist are that of understanding the world and explaining phenomena I find of interest. I can certainly add that my time spent doing research has been much more rewarding than the twenty years I spent inside the Borg.

  Finally, I would be interested in reading your responses to this information. If you feel this information should be more widely known, I could spend some time and write an article for the more general public, like in a periodical like, “Psychology Today” or other general psychological or scientific journal. Typically, my published work is for other scientists in peer-reviewed journals but perhaps this information deserves some additional insemination into the public at large.

  Also, my public thanks here to some of you who helped me in the past to collect the data used in this statistical analysis. Your contribution is appreciated.

  Kind Regards,

  Skip Starbuck AKA Mindchild
• 

  Englishman

  He he he!

  You had me going there............ A research scientist who can't spell per se ?

  Englishman. Python appreciator class.

  ..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.
• 

  Mindchild

  Sorry Englishman, I must have made a Freudian slip in typing this out. I guess that is what I get for not using my secretary.
• 

  dannyboy

  Er, what a brilliant analysis....the implications are staggering....

  Perhaps your research indicates why, as a young boy, whenever I went to a meeting with a magnet in my pocket, I had an almost uncontrollable urge to be a Pioneer....
• 

  larc

  Mindchild,

  I would be interested in a few details regarding your findings. What is the size of the correlation between solar differences and Witness activity. Are there any confounding variables? One I can think of, is the excitement over 1975 which caused a great increase in activity, followed by a drop-off in 1976.

  Do you plan to extrapolate expected results versus predicted results for the next 5 or so years? If you printed your expected results now and the actual results later, this could be powerful proof for the validity of your findings.

  I think you should submit your findings to Psychological Bulletin, a very prestigious research journal.

  One question: Do you think these cycles affect all motivated behavior or do they affect religious ideation in some particular way?
• 

  Mindchild

  Thank you Lark for some intelligent questions.

  To start with, while we used simple correlation in the initial working of the data, we used least squares spectral analysis for basing our findings on. Here is the abstract of our paper that explains a little more about this:

  (snip)
  In order to examine whether non-photic solar effects may influence (religious) motivation, yearly data on activities in behalf of their church by Jehovah's Witnesses from 1950 to 1999 were analyzed chronobiologically to assess their time structure (chronome), insofar as it is evaluable in yearly means for up to half a century. Data on the average number of hours per month spent proselytizing, available from 103 different geographic locations as well as grand totals also including other sites, were analyzed by least squares spectra in a frequency range from one cycle in 42 to one in 2.1 years. Each data series was also analyzed by the nonlinear least squares fit of a model consisting of a linear trend and a cosine curve with a trial period of 21.0 years corresponding numerically to that of the Hale cycle. An about 21.0-year component could be statistically validated nonlinearly in about 70% of the data series by the non-overlap of zero by the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of the non-linearly computed amplitude. Estimates of MESOR (midline-estimating statistic of rhythm, a rhythm- [or chronome-] adjusted mean), amplitude and period were further regressed with geomagnetic latitude. The period estimate does not depend on geomagnetic latitude; the amplitude tends to be larger at low and middle latitudes than closer to the poles. The resolution of the about 21.0-year cycle, gauged by the width of 95% confidence intervals for the period and amplitude, however, is higher (the 95% CI is smaller) near the poles than around the equator. An about 21.0-year period was also found in the (equatorial) u-index from Niemegk but not in the aa-index. Near-matches of periods in solar activity and human motivation hint that the former may influence the latter, while the correlation with latitude constitute evidence that geomagnetic activity may affect certain brain areas involved in motivation, just as it was earlier found that it is associated with effects upon the "grids" of the heart.
  (end snip)

  In short though, the findings have a 95% confidence level and are significant.

  To answer your question regarding other confounding variables, yes we were able to determine several influences upon motivational behavior. Some of these included bans on the open preaching activity, the economy, persecution, how “colonized” a country was already with JW’s, and the prophetic disconfirmation of 1975. In normal sociological statistical work, such outliers would be subtracted from the data to give the data a “better fit.” This sometimes causes critical reviews of other researchers because it is a judgment call. In our case, we left all the outliers in place because our findings were strong enough to support it without any manipulation of the data. The bottom line then, is that the motivational factor was strong enough to be seen through all the noise.

  The ability to forecast into the future with this data is limited to very general predictions. The solar terrestrial interface that produces ultra-low frequency fluctuations of the magnetosphere is not fully understood. Further, the dynamics between the solar wind bulk speed, the proton temperature, and other factors that affect the magnetosphere are somewhat complex and scientists can only make comparative predictions about how the geomagnetic field will react. There are other factors that include such things as the ionization of the upper atmosphere, and local geomagnetic phenomena that come into play as well. Having said all this, there are several projects in the works that will eventually allow us to predict with better accuracy the effect of geomagnetism on the encephalon but they may be some years off.

  Your last question, “Do you think these cycles affect all motivated behavior or do they affect religious ideation in some particular way?” is of special interest to me. Actually, at this point I’m not sure. You may be aware that University of California at San Diego scientists discovered an area in the frontal lobes of the human brain that seems to relate to religious feelings. This got the general nickname, “The God Spot” fairly quickly. It is feasible that the geomagnetic field is stimulating this part of the brain. On the other hand, in the Chronobiological science field (in which I work) there are many other studies being done or have been done on the relationship with human behavior and geomagnetics.

  Here is another snip from our paper that makes brief reference to other studies related to this subject:

  (snip)
  Schizophrenia, a condition associated with motivational deficit (Gruzelier, 2000), reportedly can be affected by geomagnetic activity (Friedman et al., 1963, 1965; Persinger, 1987). Katz (1980) studied aspects of the temporal structure of motivation. Focus so far, however, was placed on circadian and ultradian components (Hashimoto, 1991; Kohsaka et al., 1999).

  Geomagnetic influences have been documented in relation to suicides (Stoupel et al., 1995, 2000) and melatonin (Weydahl et al, this issue), which is latitude-dependent (Tarquini et al., 1997; Wetterberg et al., 1999) produced largely by the gut (Huether, 1993; Bubenik et al., 2000) and the pineal, itself interacting closely with the hypothalamus, identified by Zilov et al. (1983, 1985) as a motivational center.
  (end snip)

  My own personal current research involves a computational analysis of other animal species to determine if there are geomagnetic relationships with neurocortical activity. I also am working with numerous international surveys of national happiness to see if there are both geomagnetic and chronobiological relationships.

  Finally, thank you for your suggestion for publishing in the Psychological Bulletin. Actually though, I was thinking of publishing it in a more general journal to get exposure to the layman. However, this may be of little interest to most Jehovah’s Witnesses as there is ample evidence that their belief system is flawed but they keep on going and going…

  P.S. one small correction in my original post, I said 108 countries, it was 103 countries.
• 

  larc

  Mindchild,

  I am back with more questions and comments.

  First of all, I am not familiar with spectral anlysis. Could you give a brief description of the method? Also, how do geomagnetic effects compare to electromagnetic effects? Also, you state that there is as much as a 300% difference in activity. I assume that this is over the globe at the same point in time. Is that correct? Also, how does the geomagnetic equator compare to the geographic equator? This is all very new to me so I have to ask for some information that is very basic for you.

  Also, can geomagnetic effects be created in the lab, for more precise measurements of effects on animal behavior?

  Regarding publication, I would go for both the general public and another professional group. That gives you more publications (quantity does count in academia) as well as a larger professional audience that could offer suggestions regarding your research.
  
  PS,

  This sure does beat the reading of the latest interpretation of the book of Daniel, now doesn't it?
• 

  Tanalyst

  sure, they need all the exposure they can get. let us know when your articles are published.
• 

  Kent

  I wonder if the Earth’s Magnetosphere and radiation known in geophysical circles as geomagnetic pulsations can be the reason people like teejay and bigboy got their brains blown out. Maybe solar-winds is a factor as well? LOL

  Yakki Da

  Kent

  "The only difference between a fool and the JW legal department is that a fool might be sympathetic ."

  Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
  http://watchtower.observer.org
• 

  Hank

  : A few months ago I, along with a team of international scientists, published a scientific paper that addressed a neural-behavioral discovery I had made many years ago that involved Jehovah’s Witnesses. The paper was published by Dr. Kuniaki Otsuka, and is part of a series on Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, published by Elsevier in Holland

  They're butt-heads. Is that it?

  Henry